The present invention relates to product wrapping machines and more particularly to a cleaning apparatus or washer for a wrapping machine used principally in the food product area.
A wide variety of snack products are presently being mass produced. These products include cake or baked goods having frosting coatings, cream fillings, fruit and jam fillings, coconut sprinkles and alike. The products are typically wrapped in individual packages, boxed and shipped for resale.
A presently known machine wraps individual products in packages formed from a continuous film of packaging material. Such a machine includes an infeed conveyor having a continuous, roller chain to which a plurality of individual flights and retractable lugs are secured. The product may be placed directly on the conveyor flights and transported into the packaging portion of the machine. In the alternative, individual paper cards may be positioned between the product and the conveyor chain. Examples of such wrapping machines may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,488 entitled Wrapping Machine and Method and issued on Mar. 26, 1985 to Matt et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,977 entitled Wrapping Machine and Method and issued on July 2, 1985 to Matt et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,566 entitled Wrapping Machine and Method and issued on Mar. 11, 1986 to Eaves et al.
The conveyor chain may become covered with the product filling and/or the product coatings. Build-up on the chain may cause machine shutdown. Such build-up can result in breakage of the individual flights on the conveyor chain. Production rates are reduced due to the need to clean and dry the conveyor.
A need exists, therefore, for a device or apparatus which will effectively and efficiently clean a chain conveyor of a wrapping machine without reducing production rates.